The stock of the social media company Truth Social that was found by Trump started trading again. And on its first day hit a major success. On Thursday the company found under Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) returned to the stock market and rose as much as 16% on its first trading day. Earlier numbers of the stock showed a rise of about 50%. But how much does Trump benefit from that?
The way back to the stock market for Truth Social
Last week shareholders of Truth Social approved a deal with Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC). The deal stated that Truth Social would merge with the Digital World Acquisition Corp. to go public again after DWAC was public on the market since 2021.
Yesterday the closing price was at $57.99 and Trump Media had a market cap of $8 billion. This happened after a high of over $70 a share.
The former president found Truth Social after he was banned or kicked off the major social media platforms. These included apps like Facebook and Twitter, now know as X, and it was a consequence of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots in 2021.
How much does Trump actually benefit from this?
Donald Trump the founder of the company will still maintain roughly 60% stake of Truth Social despite the deal with DWAC. His stake in the company is currently worth $5 billion. This comes in handy for Trump since the former president faces a $454 million fraud penalty and grapples with a campaign fundraising shortfall for the rematch against president Biden this year. But even though this might sound like good news for Trump there are some restrictions for him. Among those are that he will have to wait before cashing in his shares.
According to the terms of the merger with DWAC the shares are subject to a six-month lockup period before selling or transferring them. The only exception for him would take place if the company’s board votes to make a special dispensation.
But apparently, according to SEC filings from DWAC, Trump Media, that owns Truth Social, lost $49 million last year in just the first nine months while only bringing in a revenue of $3.4 million.
But this deal with DWAC had a big impact on Trump’s finances since his net worth surged heavily after that. It even surged so much that he is now worth $6.4 billion which makes him one of the 500 richest people in the world. This for sure is a good amount that he can spend on things like his political campaigns to try and win the 2024 presidential election.
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